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Is foundry pattern making really a dieing sector

PrawinArumugam

Plastic
Joined
Apr 24, 2019
After completing my graduation. I am currently working as foundry pattern maker and could see there has been no invovation or much technology involved in pattern making. We are still chopping the patterns/master patterns manually and also couldn't able to find men's who are interested to work in this only a hand full of skilled works and also lack of projects from foundries. Is this sign that the sector is going down or already depricated?
 
I think more patterns are being made by cnc and by 3D printing. I also think that parts that were cast in the past are often molded using composite materials now. The lighter weight is very useful for many applications - cars being a prime example.
 
A local large business makes aluminum vacuum molds for anything from refrigerator liners to truck bed liners. They use very large patterns. Years ago, everything was mahogany and they'd sometimes call me in to modify one (I'm a cabinetmaker). The last 10 years or so, they've used nothing but CNC made molds, mostly made from plastic like foam. And often, the part is made completely from solid aluminum, cutting out the pattern, pour completely.

Jack
 
Hi Prawin replying to your thread in Manufacturing in North America and Europe and this one as they are similar. You can PM me with specific questions rather than email at this point.

We make 99% of our patterns with CNC these days as do most of the shops around here. There are some shops still building patterns on the bench due to being a few years from retirement and not wanting to make the investment in moving to CNC but they are becoming less and less competitive. There is also a shop near here that does a lot of huge patterns (think Pickup truck sized and bigger) that does a lot of non CNC patternmaking even though they do have a CNC that they do use.

My Boss during my apprenticeship, was told during his apprenticeship that the trade was dying. He is or would be in his 80s now. We are not dead as an industry yet although we have definitely shrunk as an industry. However much of the reason we have shrunk is a lot of the casting indusry moving to countries like China and yours. There are things like sand 3d printing for cores that are taking on some of the low volume work or complicated core assemblies, but usually it is still a patternmaker that is designing the mould and cores just in Cad rather than laying it out on a piece of plywood.

Patternmaking shops also often end up being Jig and fixture shops for jigs and fixtures made out of wood and combinations of wood, plastic and metal.
 








 
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